Those in the upper echelons of corporate life may find board meetings a bit of a chore. Men in suits, (like the elegantly pinstriped Mr. C.) have to endure long formal sessions in impersonal meeting rooms with predictable catering, but one of the beauties of being part of a small and highly individual organisation - as I am - is that we can do things differently.
The board of the charity Mindroom was meeting in my kitchen today, resident dogs sleeping under the table, coffee brewing on the Aga, and plum and walnut cake to fuel our discussions. It may sound a bit of a lark, but in fact we do very serious work indeed and our approach to it is anything but casual.
For those who haven't heard of Mindroom, our field is learning difficulties - all of them, any combination of them, slight or severe. We aren't just a source of knowledge, we provide practical help and advice through our wonderful Direct Help and Support Director, Mig. If you have a look here you'll see just what Mig can do. Any family affected by learning difficulties can contact her, in confidence, to ask for advice, information or direct involvement, and she will respond.
As boardrooms go, Mindroom's one chez Cornflower is a lot less intimidating than Sir Alan's, and to my knowledge he doesn't serve cake (details of which are on this post).
I'm sure that Mr C enjoys a higher quality of corporate catering than the NHS. After a career in hospital management I feel my body is built entirely from Rover Assorted consumed in the desperation of ennui. We did try replacing them with bananas once but the spectacle of a dozen managers trying to look dignified with this Carry On fruit was too much for us.
I'd swap it all for plum and walnut cake!
Posted by: probablyjane | 06 June 2008 at 11:58 AM